Granola

My absolute top choice for wholesome, crunchy, real-food granola!

2 egg whites
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp pure almond or coconut extract
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup pumpkin puree

1/2 cup unsweetened coconut
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (can replace or supplement with chopped almonds)
6 cups organic oatmeal

1. Preheat oven to 325.
2. In a large bowl, froth the egg whites. Add extracts, salt, cinnamon and pumpkin puree. Stir thoroughly.
3. Add coconut, nuts and oatmeal. Stir to combine.
4. Bake granola on a seasoned stoneware bar pan until browned, about 45-50 minutes. Remove from oven to thoroughly stir and rotate every 20 minutes, clumping into small clusters, as desired. Granola will crispen as it cools. Let cool then store in a sealed container.

Coffee Hour Cake

Berry COFFEE CAKE

Cake:

 2 c. flour (whole wheat blend is better, plus ground flax seeds)

1 c. sugar (organic coconut sugar, or maple syrup crystals)

1 Tbsp. baking powder

3/4 tsp. salt

1/2 c. butter (coconut oil works well too)

1 c. milk

2 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

 2 c. strawberry pie filling (too sweet), drained or any frozen or fresh berry

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 13 X 9 pan.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder &salt in large bowl.

With pastry blender, cut in butter to coarse crumbs.

Make a well in the center. Add milk, eggs & vanilla. Stir until moistened.

Fold in frozen blueberries. Spread batter in pan. Top with topping below.

Topping:

1/3 c. packed brown sugar

1/3 c. sugar

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 c. finely chopped walnuts

2 Tbsp. melted butter (coconut oil)

Combine above topping ingredients until blended. Sprinkle evenly over batter in

pan. Bake 40-45 minutes until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

This cake is even better the next day! Very moist! Hope you all enjoy it!

Sangria

Holiday Sangria

A festive adult beverage perfect for the holidays. Makes a perfect hostess gift too! Inspired and adapted from FoodandWine.com

Ingredients

• For the spiced simple syrup:
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup sugar
• 2-3 cinnamon sticks
• sliced orange peel (orange part only)
• 1 inch piece of peeled fresh ginger
• 1 tsp whole cloves
• 1/2 tsp whole peppercorns
• For the sangria
• 1 750ml bottle red wine (merlot or cabernet)
• 1/3 cup simple syrup
• juice from 1 orange
• 1/4 cup rum or brandy
• 1/4 cup orange flavored liquor (triple sec, Cointreu, Grand Marnier)
• sliced oranges, chopped apples (red and green), chopped pears
• frozen blackberries for serving

Instructions

1. In a saucepan, combine water, sugar, cinnamon sticks, orange peel, ginger, cloves and peppercorns and bring to a boil. Continue to simmer while stirring and dissolving sugar. Boil until reduced a bit and slightly syrupy, about 15 minutes. Let simple syrup cool, strain and store in a glass jar in refrigerator. (You can use syrup for sangria or to sweeten tea, or sparkling water.)
2. To make sangria: In a large pitcher combine all ingredients. Let refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight for best flavor.

Notes

Tip: Great to bring to any holiday party! Save your empty wine bottles and corks (or purchase cute corks) to use as a container for transporting the sangria. Chop the fruit small enough to fit into the bottles and use a funnel to pour sangria into wine bottle. Makes a great hostess gift!

http://aggieskitchen.com/2010/12/03/holiday-sangria/

Quick anti-Tacos

Quick Tacos

We eat some version of this recipe frequently at my house. Its flexibility makes it easy for anyone here to cook or "assemble". 

First, the beans. Choose black or pinto beans. Most of the time, I soak dry beans before I go to bed, then cook them in the morning while I'm getting ready. They take about 30-45 minutes so both steps fit into my routine surprisingly easily. But we do keep several large cans of beans in the pantry for nights when we need a quicker option or if it's an "assembler" vs. a cook who's preparing the meal. I usually sauté an onion and some garlic with a little cumin and oregano, then add the beans when the onion is soft and translucent. Sometimes we add 1/2 -- 3/4 cup of frozen corn. Cover and warm through.

For the rice, I often choose among brown, wild, forbidden or wheat or rye berries, or any combination for a smorgasborg of nutrients. And I tend to combine the rice medlley and water in my rice-cooker (or pot) when I'm cleaning up from dinner the night before, exactly when I set the beans to soak. Alas, we keep a bag of the quicker-cooking brown rice in the pantry too. This cooks in about 8 minutes. Between that and the canned beans, we always have ingredients on hand for a 20-minute meal.

Serve with any combination of the following, as per your preference and availability. 

• Grated cheese - we use cheddar, colby, or jack
• Salsa
• Tofu sour cream
• Sliced avocado
• Sautéed summer squash and/or bell pepper
• Diced tomatoes
• Lettuce
• Warm whole wheat tortillas

Parsnip Hummus

Parsnip Hummus

A quick and refreshing alternative to traditional Garbanzo bean hummus.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds parsnips, about 4 medium sized parsnips, cut into 1 inch chunks
• 1/3 c tahini
• 1 T or less, to taste and preference, extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 large clove garlic
• 1 small lemon, juiced
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• Paprika, for decorative sprinkle
• An assortment of raw and blanched vegetables, for serving such as cauliflower, red bell peppers, jicama, radishes, carrots, beet stems,  cucumbers, etc.
• Directions
• 1) Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Season generously with salt and add the parsnips. Boil until the parsnips are as soft as butter, 10 to 15 minutes. 
• 2) Using a slotted spoon, scoop the parsnips into a food processor, saving the hot cooking water*.
• 3) Add the tahini, olive oil, garlic, lemon juice and 1/4 cup of hot water. Puree until smooth. Taste for seasoning, and adjust the salt and pepper accordingly.
• 4) Pile the hummus into a shallow bowl.  Serve warm, at room temperature or cold.  Sprinkle with a little paprika before serving. Serve alongside a gorgeous platter of vegetables.
• Carrot soup
• *I always use the parsnip water for another use. After this recipe, I cooked about 2 pounds of carrots in it and poured it all into my powerful blender. I added 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/2 c apple juice, pinch of salt, and 2 T agave (or use favorite sweetener, such as brown sugar or omit). Delicious and flavorful carrot soup.Ground ginger sounds like a good addition for next time.
• 
  

If you couldn't grow it, think twice about eating it.

If you couldn't grow it, think twice about eating it.
I've luxuriated these last couple of days in reading what I consider to be classics. It's Easter and I've read a couple of chapters of The Resilient Gardener by Carol Deppe and found meaning in most paragraphs. I've considered borrowing phrases from all of my readings but after I simply sleep on the words and let them digest, I find I can process them and come up with my own.
I only began vegetable gardening last year. Yesterday, my husband and son built another 4 x 10 raised bed, in preparation for my growing penchant for fresh, organic, know-your-source food. I'm awaiting my carefully-placed Fedco non-GMO seeds, which I consider to be a significant factor in determining a crop's worth, even more so than it being organic or heirloom. I cross-referenced Fedco's available seeds with the Cornell Cooperative Extension's guide for LI plants and ordered what I hope to be a collection of seeds that will yield my family with a substantial variety of nutrient-packed food that will grow in my south shore Long Island garden with some tending.
More posts to include my beet burgers, carrot soup, and parsnip hummus.

Recipe from The Farm: Greek Kale Salad

This is a good recipe for people who haven't yet fallen in love with kale. The strong flavors of the feta and olives, together with the acid of the lemon juice, set the kale's flavor to the background.

• 2 bunches of kale, large stems discarded or saved for another use (my dog Moe loves them too)
• 2-4 T extra virgin olive oil, to taste or preference
• 2 T. fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 t. crushed red pepper
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/3 cup pitted kalamata olives, cut lengthwise into silvers
• 2 ounces feta cheese, crumbled (about 2/3 cup)

1. In a large pot of boiling water, cook kale leaves until just tender; 3 to 5 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water to cool. Transfer the kale to a clean kitchen towel and squeeze dry. Fluff up the leaves, coarsely chop them and transfer to a large bowl.

2. In a small bowl, combine the 1/4 cup of olive oil with the lemon juice and crushed red pepper and season with salt and pepper. Add the grape tomatoes, olives and crumbled feta to the kale and toss. Add the dressing and toss to coat.

Sun dried tomato sandwich spread/dip

This recipe comes from a graduate of the Chef's Training Program at the Natural Gourmet Institute in NYC. Tracy Karanik used to hold classes at Cornucopia's Health Food store in Sayville where she prepared this delicious recipe.

Sun Dried Tomato Dip
makes about 3 cups

2 cups sun dried tomatoes (NOT the ones packed in oil from a jar, DRY ones)
2 cups boiling water
1/2 cup slivered almonds
3/4 cup cooked white beans (navy beans, cannellini beans- can be cooked beans or from the can)
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup olive oil, or less I used barely 1 T)
juice of 1 lemon (about 2 T)
1/4 tsp salt

Place tomatoes in a bowl and pour boiling water over them. Cover with a plate and let soak for about 15 minutes.
In a food processor, grind the almonds into a powder.
Use a slotted spoon to remove the tomatoes from the water and add them to the almonds. (Make sure to reserve the water.)
Add the remaining ingredients and puree. Add about 1/2 cup (or more, depending on how much oil added) of the reserved tomato water and scrape down the sides as you go.
Cover and chill for an hour. Serve with vegetables or as a spread on a sandwich. I dipped the stems from greens that might otherwise be trimmed away, like dandelion greens, kale stems, bok choy, swiss chard but the obvious veggies like cukes, carrots and celery work fine too. On a sandwich, I add a bunch of sprouts for a hearty meal and sometimes use greens to serve as the bread.
High protein, fiber.

Green goddess salad dressing for non-believer's

What's up with the title? Tonight my 17 year old son ate a hearty dinner of leftover Penne a la vodka (soy milk) and a ckn cutlet but I sensed he'd eat more. I offered to make some veggies I knew he liked, like broccoli, carrots, corn and salad. He agreed to the salad as long as it didn't have a lot of "stuff" in it. Basic greens, maybe grated cheese, carrots and a "normal" dressing. What he got was a mixture of spinach, Romaine, red leaf lettuce, green leaf lettuce, grated Swiss, grated carrots and a tomato. The magic was in the dressing (though the green combo was a big "stretch"). In the Blender went 1/2 cup pineapple juice (it was left over), 2 cloves of garlic, about 10 walnuts, 2 big handfuls of spinach, S and P and 2 tsp of oil (bc it was for him, I caved and added it though usually the walnuts would serve as the fat). After the first blend, I added 2 T of apple cider vinegar. I tossed some on the salad, topped with croutons (had to make it more believable and mask the green dressing, somewhat). He finished a big bowl, then asked for more. It's hard when he asks me what's in something. I want  to tell him so after he agrees he likes something, it'll prove 'unconventional' ingredients. can be substituted, but it's a fine line. So I told him about the pineapple juice, oil, vinegar garlic and S + P. Can't mention the spinach and walnuts just yet. I'll have to sell it a few more times. Later, when I offered him a carrot with the dressing, he looked at the dressing and said, no way....Now you know where I'm coming from.

Rye Berries with Cabbage, Walnuts and Toasted Caraway seeds

Rye comes in many of the same forms as other grains, but they all come from a rye field. You'll find rye berries, cracked rye, and rye flakes. Of course, there's also rye flour in its many forms too. Pumpernickle flour is whole-grain rye flour.

Rye Field

This rye field is in Finland, where rye is an important part of everyday meals. Most rye grown is “winter rye” which is planted in the autumn; the plants then develop during the springtime, and are harvested by August (in the Northern Hemisphere).

Rye Berries

Whole rye kernels are usually referred to as “rye berries.”  Rye growing in the field has an inedible hull, which must be removed before milling or eating. In rye, the starchy endosperm constitutes about 80-85% of the whole kernel, the germ 2-3% and the outer bran layers about 10-15%. While the fiber in most grains is concentrated almost solely in the bran layers, some of rye’s fiber is also in the endosperm.

I adapted this from Wellsphere.com, a healthy eating community and WholeGrainsCouncil.org

INGREDIENTS

1 cup rye berries
3 cups water or stock
2 cups walnuts
1 Tbsp honey or pure maple syrup
3 Tbsp Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp + 1 tsp walnut oil (or substitute coconut)
2 tsp apple cider vinegar, or to taste
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tsp caraway seeds, toasted over medium heat until fragrant
2 medium red onions, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
5 cups shredded Savoy or Napa cabbage
¼ cup chopped parsley
Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Heat a large stock pot over medium-high heat. Add the rye berries and toast for approximately 5 minutes, stirring continuously with a wooden spoon. When the berries have darkened, pour them into a strainer and rinse well with cold water. Return berries to the cooled pot; cover with 2 ½ cups water or stock and refrigerate overnight.

2. Bring the rye berries and soaking liquid to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat and allow the rye to simmer for approximately 45 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste; allow to simmer for 15 minutes more, or until the berries are tender and the liquid is absorbed.

3. Meanwhile preheat oven to 375. Spread the walnuts onto a sheet pan. Toast in the oven for approximately 8-10 minutes, or until a deep golden brown. (I toast the nuts in a skillet sometimes instead.)Remove from the oven, toss in a small bowl with 1 teaspoon walnut oil (I don't use any oil) and a pinch of salt.

4. Once the rye berries are tender, add remaining ½ cup of water or stock, honey, Dijon mustard, apple cider vinegar, and remaining 2 tablespoons walnut oil (I use coconut oil, or any oil would work-it's your preference); set aside and keep warm.

5. Heat olive oil (I use chicken or turkey fat, or butter) in a large sauté pan over medium high heat. Add chopped onion and garlic; allow to soften slightly, about 2 minutes. Add shredded cabbage, a generous pinch of salt, a few grinds of black pepper, and toasted caraway seeds. Stir to coat cabbage in the onions and oil; cover the pan and allow the cabbage to steam in its own liquid, about 6-8 minutes, or until tender.

6. Add cabbage, walnuts, and parsley to rye berries; stir to combine. Taste for seasoning; add more salt, cider vinegar, or mustard to taste. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Quinoa with Toasted Almonds and Cranberries

I adapted this Quinoa recipe from the bag of Earthly Delights Organic Quinoa

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa

1/2 cup slivered blanched almonds, or chopped whole almonds

1 tsp vegetable oil

1 1/2 cups boiling water

1 vegetable bouillon cube (I don't use this)

1/2 tsp salt

1 cinnamon stick (I use 1 tsp of ground cinnamon)

1 bay leaf (I don't use bay leaf)

1/2 cup dried cranberries (I prefer raisins, but Frank likes Craisins which has too much sugar)

Directions

Soak the quinoa in cold water for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, heat a wide bottomed pan on medium heat and add the oil. Stir and toast the almonds until golden, and remove from pan. Drain the quinoa in a fine mesh strainer and then add it to the pan. Stir and toast until dry and turning darker. Add the boiling water, and remaining ingredients, except almonds. Bring back to boil. Turn heat to simmer, cover and cook for 10 minutes, or until all the water is absorbed. Remove from heat and allow to sit for five minutes. Add the almonds and stir gently. **Optional- I love to add 2-3 T toasted coconut to this recipe and add it with the almonds.***Serve warm but it's great cold too.